Mr. Crumby’s Kitchen: Ropa Vieja

Spanish for ‘old clothes’ thanks to its shredded appearance, this flavorful Cuban dish is made with lean beef and makes for a healthy Sunday Supper.

This post is sponsored by the Beef Checkoff in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC. All opinions are my own.

Beef.

Beeeeeeeef. It’s so glorious.

In our house, it is very often…what’s for dinner.

When compared to other meats, even for us meatatarians, it seems like beef gets a bad rap. Thoughts immediately turn to a greasy burger or fatty rib eye steak, when in fact, lean beef is completely nutritious and provides a lot of health benefits that might surprise you.

And when it’s perfectly seasoned and cooked low and slow like this juicy, gorgeous, crazy-with-flavor Ropa Vieja…you’re gonna wanna go back for seconds, and all those nasty misconceptions will fade away.

My friends often joke that Mr. Crumby and I should open a restaurant.

We both work for the same company, I as a baker (technically,) and he as a butcher.

We’ve pretty much got an ideal set-up, no? We both love to cook, I love to bake, and he’s not too bad at that himself, either. There’s no reason we couldn’t hack it in the restaurant business, right?

Ehhhh…it’s too bad neither of us has the biz chops to do so. Front end? We got this. Back end of the house? Uhhh. We don’t even like worrying about household bills, much less restaurant bills.

So, we just stick to what we know and save our kitchen skills for our home.

Tell you what, though, being the wife of an experienced butcher totally has its perks.

He brings home perfect cuts of beef. And since he likes to cook quite a bit, I go ahead and let him prepare it, also.

So. Totally. Kidding.

He (almost) always takes care of our dinner protein, with or without my approval. He’s very experimental in the kitchen, and when I see him come home with a juicy steak or over-sized roast, he usually already has a plan for it.

That works really well for me, since my idea of prepping a roast involves onion soup mix and an all-day cooking time, thanks to what I learned from Nana.

And, while there’s no arguing that she made a delicious pot roast, my Dominican husband gets bored of the same old flavors.

I don’t always have my hubby’s brain around when I’m shopping for beef, but the Beef Checkoff website contains one of the niftiest little search engines to help make my decision for me: the Interactive Butcher Counter.

The Butcher Counter lets you explore different cuts of beef, guides you to the perfect cut with a fill-in-the-blank sentence generator (think Mad Libs for beef,) or if you have a general idea of what you’re looking for, a plain ol’ powerful search bar awaits your typey fingers.

In the case of this recipe, you want to look for a lean cut, and Tri-Tip isn’t the only contender! Just look for this icon on the website, which indicates the leanest cuts of beef:

There’s also a kick-ass 52-page grocery store-style pamphlet available in PDF form on the site, chock full of information on cuts and how to cook and store them, tips on picking the perfect package of beef, nutrition facts, and even recipes to help make your meal extra mouthwatering.

Not to brag, but Mr. Crumby rarely uses recipes, and it’s not often he makes even a partially bad meal.

Of course, that also means he rarely duplicates anything he makes exactly. Which makes getting this exact meal from our table to yours slightly difficult – but have faith that it will be amaaaaazing even if you have to tweak it to your tastes a bit!

Most ropa vieja recipes use flank steak, which is a wonderfully lean cut of beef, but my hubby prefers to use the Tri-Tip Roast for whatever reason. I’m not one to complain because it is incredibly tasty…melt-in-your-mouth tender, bursting with garlic and spices, and when served with traditional white rice, I promise you’ll feel like you’re eating at a restaurant in Havana.

And, thanks to the stellar lean beef you just ate like a champ, you won’t feel weighed down after the meal.

Recipe Notes

This dish is quite spicy! To reduce the heat, leave the seeds from the poblano pepper out, or simply use a green bell pepper in its place.Pork bouillon can be found in the ethnic food/Hispanic food aisles at most grocery stores. We use Goya Concentrated Ham Flavoring. (<--affiliate link)

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving

As Served

Calories504kcalCalories from fat 254

% Daily Value

Total Fat28g

43%

Saturated Fat11g

55%

Cholesterol170mg

57%

Sodium2320mg

97%

Carbohydrate10g

3%

Dietary Fiber2g

8%

Sugars4g

Protein50g

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:

Calories

2000

Total Fat

Less than

65g

Sat Fat

Less than

25g

Cholesterol

Less than

300mg

Sodium

Less than

2,400mg

Total Carbohydrate

300g

Dietary Fiber

25g

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[…] Easy Entertaining at home since you can prepare ahead of time without a lot of fuss. I love this Ropa Vieja shredded beef recipe from my friend Erica Acevedo of TheCrumbyCupcake.com. It’s the kind of hearty meal you will […]